UN STATEMENT AFFIRMS THE UNIVERSALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL
In March, the Obama Administration announced the U.S. government's support for a UN Statement on "Human Rights, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity," reversing one of the final decisions of the Bush Administration. The UN Statement affirms the universality of human rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, and calls for the decriminalization of homosexuality. The Council applauded this important reversal of position.
At the Council for Global Equality, we worked closely with member organizations to encourage the Bush Administration to join the statement when it was first introduced in December. But despite thousands of calls to the State Department, letters from Members of Congress, and requests from close U.S. allies, Bush Administration officials refused. The United States was one of the only countries in the "Western Group" at the United Nations that failed to sign. The Council quickly prepared a policy paper for the Obama transition team, explaining why President Obama and Secretary Clinton should rectify this final blemish to U.S. human rights leadership by joining the UN statement and affirming human right for all.
President Obama's decision to join the groundbreaking UN human rights statement came just a few weeks after the State Department released an annual report to Congress that examines the human rights record of every country around the world. Based on the Council's analysis, this year's human rights report from the State Department is the most comprehensive to date on sexual orientation and gender identity issues (referenced in 190 country reports), and it points to a growing pattern of human rights abuses directed against LGBT people around the world. The Council for Global Equality looks forward to constructive engagement on these and other human rights issues under the new Obama Administration, since President Obama stated during the Presidential campaign that "treatment of gays, lesbians and transgender persons is part of this broader human-rights discussion," and that it needs to be "part and parcel of any conversations we have about human rights." And in Brussels this spring, Secretary Clinton assured an audience at the European Parliament that "human rights is and always will be one of the pillars of our foreign policy. In particular, persecution and discrimination against gays and lesbians is something we take very seriously."
